Terms of Use

Introduction

These Terms of Use for DECTRIS CLOUD, a service of DECTRIS Ltd., Taefernweg 1, 5405 Baden-Daettwil, Switzerland (“DECTRIS CLOUD”, “we”, “us”, or “our”), describe the rules and conditions any user must adhere to when accessing sites, applications and information found at https://www.dectris.cloud, and/or through any of its associated applications (“Service”).

The mission of DECTRIS CLOUD is to accelerate scientific progress by facilitating collaborative discovery of experimental data between scientists around the world. At the core, DECTRIS CLOUD provides a safe, secure and globally accessible platform for the ingestion, storage, management, archiving and processing of scientific data. In a collaborative manner, it allows users to support and profit from each other by sharing insights and tools to analyze data faster and better.

DECTRIS CLOUD primarily services scientists from the academic community.

In the DECTRIS CLOUD any natural or legal person who, as a recipient of the Service, accesses or uses the Service for any purpose is a User (“User”). In this document, we differentiate between the following types of Users:

• “Registered Academic Users”
  Users with a registered account that use our service for Academic purposes.
• “Registered Proprietary Users”
  Users with a registered account that use our service exclusively for proprietary purposes.
• “Registered Users”
  Both Registered Academic Users and Registered Proprietary Users.
• “Non-registered Users”
  Any Users that do not possess a registered account, irrespective of the purpose of usage of this service.
• “De-registered Users”
  Users that have had a registered account but decided to close said account.

Acceptance of Terms

By using our Services, any type of User acknowledges and accepts the Terms described in this document. These Terms hence constitute a legally binding agreement between DECTRIS CLOUD and any of its Users.  

To mitigate potential misunderstandings, we actively inform Users about the implicit consent to these Terms, which comes as part of using our Service. As such, we only allow registration upon explicit acceptance of these Terms. For any Non-registered User, we provide a visual notification that informs about these Terms. Note that any potential technical tools to suppress notifications do not exempt a User from implicitly accepting these terms.

Note that these terms are valid irrespective of any potential limitations in functionality of our Service.

User Eligibility

Our Services are only available to individuals who are at least 18 years old. If you are under 18, you may not use or attempt to register for the Service. In addition, if you have previously been excluded by us from using the Services, you are not entitled to register for the Service again.  

We further emphasize that only Users affiliated with academic institutions are eligible to use our Services. Users affiliated with non-academic institutions may use our Services only if data originating from an academic institution has been shared with them through the Service. 

Scope of Service

DECTRIS CLOUD is an academic oriented Service which provides the ability to view, navigate through, process, manage and download data generated in research facilities. Depending on the type of User, certain functionalities are restricted or not available. The goal of the Service is to allow Users to engage with Open Data and other Users for the benefit of the Science Community.

Outside the academic community, Registered Proprietary Users can benefit from similar but potentially restricted Services as the academic community.

User Obligations and Conduct

Accuracy of Personal Data

At DECTRIS CLOUD we strive to accelerate scientific progress by facilitating collaborative discovery of experimental data. It is essential for the credibility of the world of science and for the reputation of researchers that Registered Users identify themselves using their real names and their true affiliations. The Registered User must therefore provide only true and non-misleading statements regarding their personal identity (name), academic identity (ORCID) and affiliation (institution).

Further, the Registered User may not adopt or post information or content that falsely or misleadingly implies an incorrect identity, inaccurate associated institutions, or misleading information about experiments.

In short: the User warrants that information provided by them in our Services regarding their personal data are true, up-to-date and accurate.

Authority to Register and Use of Service

Registered Users confirm that they are authorized to access the Service in the name of the institution that has been indicated during registration and that they possess the legal authority to act in the name of this institution for all accepted roles in our Service.

Users must ensure that access to or use of our Service does not violate any applicable law or regulation in their jurisdiction as well as the Swiss, European and US jurisdictions and regulations. Further, the User ensures that access or use of our Service does not violate any sanctions or embargoes introduced by the following countries and intergovernmental organizations: Switzerland, European Union, United Nations, United States of America, Japan.

It is the responsibility of the User to ensure that use of our Service complies with all laws, rules, and regulations applicable to the User. If the User does not comply with all applicable laws, including the agreement to these terms, the User may not use our Service.

User Content 

The User understands that all information publicly posted or privately transmitted through the Service is the sole responsibility of the person by whom such content was submitted. DECTRIS CLOUD is not liable for any errors or omissions in any such content. Apart from data acquired through experiments, we reserve the right to delete, modify, demote, or reformat any materials, content, or information submitted by you when, in our sole discretion, we deem it to be necessary or appropriate, including if we determine that the content may expose us to harm and potential legal liability or is in breach of these Terms. 

The Registered User understands that depending on personal account settings some personal information may be publicly available. Besides personal information, all uploaded data and information will be made publically available except for Registered Proprietary Users and content in connection with Scientific Data during the Embargo Period. In the later case, the content will be made available as soon as the Scientific Data becomes Open Access. For further information, please refer to our DECTRIS CLOUD Data Privacy Policy and DECTRIS CLOUD Scientific Data Policy. Any Registered User may change the visibility of some of her/his profile information.

The User furthermore undertakes:

1. not to make the Services available in any way for the use or benefit of any not eligible person and shall use reasonable efforts to prevent unauthorized access to or use of the Services; 
2. to notify DECTRIS as soon as possible after it becomes aware of any unauthorized access or use;
3. not to copy, modify, create derivative works of the Services, other than as expressly permitted in this Terms of Use; 
4. not to reverse engineer, decompile or disassemble the Services or any components thereof except as permitted by law; 
5. not to violate or abuse the password protections governing access to and use of the Services; 
6. not to remove, deface, obscure, or alter DECTRIS' or any third party's copyright notices, trademarks or other proprietary rights notices affixed to or provided as part of the Services;
7. not to use any robot, spider, scraper or other automated means to access the Services for any purpose, unless parts of the service are explicitly provided for said purpose (e.g. API);
8. not to store information or materials in the Services that violates a third party’s rights or breaches applicable law;
9. not to use the Services in a way which would violate any applicable laws, rules and regulations.
10. not to upload any private data except where needed to use the Service
11. not to upload any harmful, insulting, disrespectful or inappropriate content

Registered Users must not publish, share, sell, or make available information that is provided within the Service to any third party outside the Service, unless such a distribution or disclosure is intended within the scope of and in accordance with the Service.

Security

Registered Users are obliged to keep their secured password confidential at all times. DECTRIS CLOUD will not disclose passwords to any third party, and will not ask for passwords at any time other than during the login process. The Registered User is solely responsible for anything that happens through the User’s account, unless it was closed or misuse was reported.

Privacy Protection

Users must not store, process, or use any other User's personal data except for the purpose of using the Service such as adding new users or collaborating.

Intellectual Property

At DECTRIS CLOUD we not only provide the means to upload, transfer and process large amounts of data but also want to enable collaboration in the scientific community. We respect the intellectual property rights of others and ask that any User does the same. 

When a User uploads, processes or analyses existing data on DECTRIS CLOUD, the User does not transfer or assign copyright to us. Equally, any newly generated data on DECTRIS CLOUD, e.g. through processing or analysis of existing data, remains the full intellectual property of the user. Any data may be used for monitoring of operational and security related aspects necessary for DECTRIS to ensure delivery of its Services. While data classified as “academic” may also be used by DECTRIS for the purpose of improving our Service offerings, the User acknowledges that she/he may not claim any compensation or rights for offerings developed based on said data. All data classified as “proprietary” may NOT be used by DECTRIS for any purposes other than monitoring of operational and security related aspects necessary for DECTRIS to ensure delivery of its Services. For more details on academic and proprietary data, as well as open data sharing, please refer to the Scientific Data Policy.

As we do not have any information about intellectual property rights any User may hold, or any license terms or other restrictions which might apply to such content, we necessarily rely on the User to understand their rights and act accordingly. 

The User is responsible for ensuring that the submission, use and dissemination of any experimental, auxiliary, or software data does not infringe or violate the rights of any third party, including without limitation any privacy rights, publicity rights, patents, licenses, copyrights, contract rights, or any other intellectual property or proprietary rights. 

DECTRIS CLOUD may at any time request that the User can demonstrate to our full satisfaction that the User owns all rights or licenses to access and use data and Services.  

In any case, DECTRIS CLOUD holds no liability for possible infringement of any of the above mentioned cases.

Complaint Handling

Before filing any legal complaints, we strongly encourage Users to get in touch with us as soon as any concerns arise. Any complaints of both informal and formal nature shall be directed to: complaints@dectris.cloud

Handling of formal complaints regarding DECTRIS CLOUD involves a structured legal process for content removal requests and infringement notifications. The process requires the complainant to provide comprehensive contact information, a clear description of the copyrighted work, and precise location of the infringing material on the Service. Upon receiving a valid notice, DECTRIS CLOUD commits to swiftly removing or disabling access to the contested content and notifying the involved parties.

If a claim of infringement is disputed, DECTRIS CLOUD outlines a specific procedure for submitting a counter-notice, which includes detailed personal information, a description of the material in question, and legal statements affirming a belief in the material's wrongful removal. The platform ensures communication between the complaining and disputing parties, providing a mechanism for material to be re-uploaded in cases of acknowledged error, but also reserves the right to enforce its repeat infringer policy, which could lead to a deletion of registration or restricted access for those repeatedly involved in infringement activities.

Data Protection and Privacy

All measures and rights regarding data protection and privacy are outlined in our Data Privacy Notice. We aim to protect all personal data compliant with GDPR, whereas we interpret said measures to benefit academic purposes.

Changes to the Service

We reserve the right to modify the Service at any time or to offer services different from those offered at the time of the User’s registration or use of Service, in particular under, but not limited to, the following circumstances:

1. We introduce new features or functionalities that enhance the Service;
2. To the extent we are required in order to comply with applicable law, including in the event of a change in such laws;
3. To the extent we are required to do so because of a legal order or decision by a government authority;
4. To the extent the respective modifications are required to mitigate any potential security vulnerabilities;
5. If the modification is only beneficial to the User; or
6. If the modification is of a purely technical or process-related nature without any material impact on the User.

Changes to the Terms

We are entitled to change the terms in this Document by issuing a new version of the Terms of Use. We shall inform Registered Users of new versions by e-mail or notification in the Service thirty days before they come into force. If the User does not agree with the new version of the Terms of Use, the User shall inform us in writing within 10 days. If the User continues to use the Service afterwards, the User confirms the changes.

If a User does not agree with the new terms they must close their account. De-registered Users must stop using the Service. If Registered Users have a dispute with us, the version of the terms in effect at the time that we receive actual notice of their dispute shall apply.

Termination and Suspension

Registered Users may delete their account at any time. DECTRIS CLOUD may delete user accounts, restrict access, or take other protective actions only if necessary by law or other regulations. Scientific Data will not be deleted. Certain rights and sections of the terms will remain in effect post-termination, including the access to the Service as an Unregistered User. Furthermore, the physical person corresponding to the deleted user does not lose any authorship and intellectual property rights connected to linked scientific data.

Additionally, DECTRIS CLOUD reserves the right to delete or limit user access if we suspect the service is being used for purposes other than those intended.

Liability and Disclaimers

DECTRIS CLOUD shall not be liable for any damages  arising from a User’s use of our Service or any third party’s use of our Service. Especially DECTRIS CLOUD excludes indirect, special, incidental, consequential, or exemplary damages such as, without limitation, damages for lost profits, lost data, computer failure, or the violation of your rights by any third party, even if DECTRIS CLOUD has been advised of the possibility thereof and regardless of the legal or equitable theory upon which the claim is based.

Further, we do not endorse and have no control over any content submitted to the Service. We cannot guarantee the authenticity of any submission by Users. The User acknowledges that they access the content at their own risk when using the Service. With that the User will be solely responsible for any damage or loss to any party resulting from their access to or their inability to access such content.

Furthermore, DECTRIS CLOUD shall not be liable for any wrongful use of User licenses potentially required to operate, amend or execute software of any kind.

Other than for the types of liability we cannot limit by law as described in this section, we limit our liability to a User to the amount the User paid for DECTRIS CLOUD Services to DECTRIS within the last 12 months.

Indemnification

The User will indemnify and hold DECTRIS CLOUD (including our affiliates and subsidiaries, as well as our and their respective officers, directors, employees, and agents) harmless from any claim or demand, including reasonable legal fees, made by any third party due to or arising out of the User’s breach of these Terms, the User’s improper use of the Service, or the User’s breach of any law or their violation of the rights and licenses of a third party.

Dispute Resolution and Governing Law

The governing law shall be the substantive laws of Switzerland, without reference to its principles of conflict of law nor to its international treaties, in particular, the United Nations Convention on the International Sale of Goods of April 11, 1980.

Any disputes arising out of or in connection with the use of DECTRIS CLOUD, including any disputes regarding these Terms validity or the termination of a User account and the validity of this choice of forum provision shall exclusively be brought before the competent courts in the city of Baden, Canton of Aargau, Switzerland.

Miscellaneous

These terms within this Terms of Use constitute the complete and exclusive agreement between DECTRIS CLOUD and the User governing all issues and replaces all written or oral undertakings, representations and agreements which preceded the use of the Service.

If any of the terms in this document shall be or become unenforceable for any cause or reason whatsoever, the ensuing lack of enforceability shall not affect the other provisions hereof.

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